Dwayne Johnson Reveals How He Knew About Osama bin Laden’s Killing Before Obama’s Public Announcement

Dwayne Johnson says he was aware of Osama bin Laden’s death before the rest of the world — even before then-President Barack Obama made his official statement.

The Smashing Machine actor, 53, revisited the moment during a conversation on The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast. Host Scott Feinberg presented him with one of his old tweets from that day — and Johnson immediately remembered it.

“Oh my God, this is not good,” he joked as Feinberg pulled up the post.

On May 1, 2011, Johnson had tweeted:

“Just got word that will shock the world — Land of the free…home of the brave DAMN PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”

At the time, Obama had not yet announced that bin Laden had been killed in a U.S. military operation. Feinberg asked Johnson how he knew before anyone else.

“I’ve got a friend of a friend who gave me a call,” Johnson explained. “The call was like, ‘Hey, this thing happened.’ And I said, ‘Okay, wonderful news.’”

He continued, “I was told the president would be speaking in about 20 minutes. So 20 minutes go by, and at around the 25th minute, I tweet this. Then I get another call saying, ‘Yeah, the president didn’t go on yet.’ And I went, ‘Oh s—.’”

Shortly afterward, Obama addressed the nation. In his late-evening speech on May 1, 2011, the president confirmed that the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks had been killed in a raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

“Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan,” Obama said. “A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.”

Johnson has never revealed the identity of his mysterious source. When asked about it by Moviefone in 2012, he replied jokingly, “If I tell you that, I won’t have to ‘kill’ you — but I’ll have to behead you. No, I got my sources. I’ve got friends in high places and low places. It was a very interesting day… the individuals who were there were proud to let me know.”

He added that he wanted to express pride without revealing sensitive information. “I knew the president was going to give his speech; I thought he’d do it at a certain time. I figured it was appropriate to tweet ‘I’m damn proud to be an American’ and keep it in that space.”

In the same interview, Johnson also hinted at political aspirations: “One day, and that day will come, I can impact the world through politics. The great news is that I am American, therefore I can become president.”

More than a decade later, Feinberg revisited that idea during the podcast. “In 2022, both major political parties apparently reached out to gauge your interest in running for president,” he said. “You obviously did not choose to get involved for 2024. On Young Rock, you run in 2032. Is there any chance you might entertain the possibility in real life?”

Johnson smiled and sidestepped the question:

“Brother, you’ve asked a lot of great questions. Let’s ask another one.”